This interesting name, with variant spelling Fog(h), derives from the Medieval English "fogge" (ultimately of Olde Norse origin) meaning "grass left to grow after the hay has been cut", and was originally given either as a topographic name to someone who lived by such a meadow, or as a metonymic occupational name to one who grazed cattle on it in winter. The vocabulary word is still in use as a dialectual term in parts of Yorkshire and in East Lancashire. The surname is first recorded at the beginning of the 16th Century, (see below). On July 20th, 1550 Martynus Fogge and Elizabeth Green were married in Whalley, Lancashire, an on April 27th, 1557 William Fogg, an infant was christened in the above parish. The name is also associated with Kent from an early date. On October 21st 1576 one, George Fogge was christened in Chilham, Kent. Laurence Fogg (1623 - 1718) D.D. Cambridgeshire 1679, Dean of Chester, 1691, published several theological works. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Fogg, witness, which was dated 1509 - The Fine Court Rolls of Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry VIII, Bluff King Hal, 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.